Obama pushes a common bond between Latinos and himself


Speaking to La Raza convention in San Diego

By Jose Luis Jimenez
UNION-TRIBUNE BREAKING NEWS TEAM
July 13, 2008
HOWARD LIPIN / Union-Tribune

SAN DIEGO – Sen. Barack Obama, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, focused on the similarities between the issues championed by his campaign and those important to Latino voters, during a speech at the National Council of La Raza convention Sunday.
Acknowledging the importance of Latino voters in November's general election, Obama reiterated his support for a comprehensive overhaul of immigration laws that would help create a path to citizenship for many of the estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in the country.

Further, he pledged to fix the nation's public schools; to provide more services for veterans by increasing funding of those programs; and reissued his pledge to bring universal health care to the nation.



Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., greets supporters after speaking at the National Council of La Raza Convention in San Diego on Sunday.

Obama also announced his support of a plan, first proposed by his rival for the Democratic nomination Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York, to offer tax breaks to small businesses that offer health care to their employees.

He also sought to underscore differences between himself and Sen. John McCain of Arizona, the presumptive Republican nominee. In his half-hour speech before an audience of 2,000 at the San Diego Convention Center, Obama argued he was the candidate to lead the country out of the current economic doldrums that has adversely affected Hispanics.

“It's about the Latino families who are the first ones hurt by an economic downturn and the last ones helped by an economic upturn,â€